Mapping the Psyche

An Introduction to Psychological Astrology, by Clare Martin

Aquarius

Fixed Air

Traditional Ruler: Saturn

Collective ruler: Uranus

Detriment: Sun

It is difficult to visualise fixed air except symbolically,
as fixed ideas and ideals or, perhaps, as the structured intellect
or rigid thinking. What we can certainly say is that, when we look
at the sign of Aquarius, we are once again reminded of the duality
of the air signs generally and immediately confronted with a sign which
contains radical contradictions, described by the very different motivations
of the two planetary rulers of this sign: Saturn and Uranus.

Saturn and Uranus are opposites in almost every sense.
Saturn stands for tradition, structure, order, hierarchy, authority
and the status quo. Uranus stands for the force which seeks to break
down the status quo and the old structures which Saturn seeks to preserve.
Uranus is an innovator - the carrier of new ideals for the benefit
of the collective. Uranian ideals are utopian to the extent that they
concern openness and honesty, democracy and equality, and the possibility
of humanity raising itself to a level where we can respect each other's
differences and work together for the greater good of all.

Aquarius is the most civilized, developed, humanitarian
and mature of the air signs. It concerns social structures and organizations
and political systems whose goal is to help society advance and improve
the condition of ordinary people. It is humanitarian, socially opinionated.
The Saturn ruler describes the social structures and the Uranus ruler
gives this sign an extra charge because of its foresight, ideals and
sense of the future possibilities for the perfection of humanity. Can
you see how both these planets, in spite of their radical differences,
can be associated with this sign? The integration of the Sun, which
is in its detriment in Aquarius, can be an important clue to the fully
mature expression of this sign. As the planet of individuality, the
Sun indicates that, ideally, individual values and personal self-expression
will balance the collective concerns of this sign.

Audience: I have the Sun in Aquarius.

Clare: Do you feel you are in touch with some kind of knowledge
or foresight or vision which would be useful to mankind?

Audience: Well, I certainly have an unconventional way of
seeing the world. I tend to think in an entirely different way from
other people.

Clare: Yes. Aquarians have a tendency to turn things on their
head, to come at things from a different perspective than the norm,
to think 'outside the box'. Would you say in your experience you feel
both your Saturn ruler, which makes it important for you to achieve
respect in the community or in the group, and also this extra something
that makes you different, that wants to challenge the group, break
down the old structures and replace them with something better?

Audience: Funny you should say this, but this is exactly how
I feel.

Clare: I think it is important for Aquarians to come to terms
with this paradox, because the sign is inherently opposed to itself.
Saturn, for example, cares what other people think, and Uranus doesn't
give a damn. This is where the famous Aquarian phrase comes from: 'I
love humanity, it's people I can't stand.' In spite of its inherent
contradictions, the fixity of Aquarius describes its tremendous loyalty
and its high ideals of friendship. There is a real clarity and detached
honesty and truthfulness and open friendliness about this sign, and
nothing which is gooey or mushy. Those of us who have Aquarian friends
can count ourselves as very fortunate.

There is often a tremendous sense of liberation for
Aquarians when they get to the point of not caring what other people
think, because they have always been and always will feel different
from the norm. When we are young, this can be extremely uncomfortable
and many Aquarians spend a great deal of energy trying to 'join the
herd' by behaving and dressing like everyone else in order to cover
up this sense of separateness. Saturn's influence in the first half
of life brings a sense of inadequacy and a fear of being exposed or
ridiculed in any way. As the Uranus ruler of this sign becomes stronger,
people with an emphasis of planets in Aquarius tend to become more
and more comfortable being who they are and start to enjoy deviating
from the norm.

Audience: This is very helpful, because as an Aquarius I have
always felt very different, but at my Saturn return I stopped minding
and started to enjoy it.

Clare: Yes, it seems that by the time of your first Saturn
return you had earned the experience and self-knowledge to give yourself
permission to be different.

Audience: Yes, it was very reassuring. Until then I didn't
feel as if I was being truthful to myself, which is difficult for an
Aquarian.

Audience: What about the Aquarian shadow? How does that work?

Clare: If we approach this from the point of view of water
being opposite to air, the shadow side of Aquarius can be described
as an undervaluation of ordinary human feelings and emotions. There
is a kind of ideological rigidity or totalitarianism to Aquarius which
can be autocratic, uncompromising and brutal to the extent that it
rides roughshod over ordinary human concerns. With their inherent sense
of superiority, Aquarians can be critical of ordinary mortals, who
can be too slow or flawed or stupid to appreciate their brilliance,
truth and clarity.

Audience: And when the world eventually catches up, the Aquarian
has moved on to the next vision.

Planets in Aquarius

Audience: I don't know if this is significant, but my Moon
is in Leo and my Sun is in the opposite sign of Aquarius.

Clare: So what we need to be looking at a great deal in your
particular chart is the Aquarius-Leo polarity and the importance of
integrating this polarity. You were born around the time of a full
Moon, when the Sun and Moon are as far apart from each other as they
get. This means that you have this polar opposite within, which will
give you maximum objectivity about these two principles in your chart.
The task is to find out what they mean as separate principles and then
to integrate them, because we need to integrate the opposites if we
are not to be pulled apart by them. We will be looking at all this
in much more detail next term.

Audience: I have Moon in Aquarius, but surely this is a contradiction
in terms. The Moon is about the emotions and about neediness, and is
watery, but Aquarius is about detachment and ideas.

Clare: The Moon simply describes what you need in order to
feel comfortable and nurtured and safe. Moon in Aquarius actually needs
space and detachment, honesty, loyalty, truth and equality in friendships.
It is ideas and ideals which will feed you. The lunar bond is created
with people with whom we share like minds. This is just as strong a
need as anything watery. People with an Aquarius moon often have the
feeling that they have been born into a family with whom they have
nothing in common: 'Who are these strangers?' It can also indicate
that your mother doesn't fit the normal 'mothering role' but is unusual
in some way, perhaps a woman ahead of her time, someone who is more
comfortable being your equal and your friend now that you are grown
up, than she was when you were a baby.

Sally has Sun, Venus and
Mercury in Aquarius. Mercury in Aquarius indicates that she is likely
to be intelligent, rational and detached, fair-minded and logical.
Her thinking will be structured and scientific in its approach and
she will expect others to be her intellectual equals and to hold the
same ideals that she does. Venus in Aquarius indicates that she values
honesty, truth and loyalty and will be an extremely loyal friend. The
Sun indicates that she will identify strongly with her values and with
her ideas. This is a very highly principled, possibly autocratic, unyielding
combination. The integration of the opposite sign of Leo and of its
ruler, the Sun, will help her develop an appreciation of the importance
of unique individual values in the implementation of collective ideals.

David, on the other hand,
has Saturn in Aquarius. This is a more cautious placement and indicates
that he may be very sensitive to being judged by others or being thought
to be stupid. He will tend to look to authority figures for the answers
and seek to conform to collective norms and expectations in order to
avoid being exposed or excluded. Eventually, he will develop his own
knowledge and expertise and become an authority on his own terms. He
has a disciplined and structured mind and this combination is often
found in the charts of scientists and strategists.

Audience: I have Chiron in Aquarius.

Clare: Yes, how many people have this placement? Three or
four of you. This is really an extension of what we have been talking
about. Chiron is the outsider, the maverick, the one that doesn't belong
and is therefore often scapegoated by the group. Chiron in Aquarius,
the sign of the group, often describes a person who has made many attempts
to be accepted by others and has had many painful experiences of being
the one that didn't fit, the one that was picked on, excluded and rejected
by the group. This can lead to a wounded rejection of any collective
situations, the rationalization that 'I never wanted to join anyway,' which
can in fact be simply a defence against being rejected again. So the
wound of Chiron in Aquarius is about being isolated from or rejected
by the group. Eventually, rather than cutting ourselves off altogether,
we can come to accept ourselves just as we are, without needing the
permission or even the understanding of others. It is not unusual for
astrologers, for example, to find themselves at the receiving end of
the judgements and criticisms of 'normal' people because we have a
particular way of thinking which is not shared by the collective. However,
when we find ourselves in a group of other astrologer mavericks, then
we can all be outsiders together, which is very comforting, and once
we have accepted ourselves just as we are, then we no longer have to
fight to be accepted by others.

Audience: But surely, in the end, the eventual outcome is
that there is a collective moving forward which gradually brings more
knowledge and clarity.

Clare: Yes, I think we would all like to believe that this
is true. There is no doubt that there has been an exponential increase
in scientific discoveries and inventions since the discovery of Uranus,
which does indicate a collective leap, a new kind of collective intellectual
capacity with which to address and resolve our problems. What seems
to be hanging in the balance, however, is whether we can harness our
undoubted potential with real wisdom and compassion.

Let's try and get into some water now. We need to
plunge down from the clear, distant, rarified heights of Aquarius,
into the murky depths of water, where we are dealing with a much more
mysterious and archaic world.

"Mapping the Psyche" by Clare Martin is a transcript of the first term
of an introductory course in astrology given for the Centre
for Psychological Astrology. In this first of three volumes,
the basic building blocks of astrological language are presented.
The reader is taken on a fascinating journey through the solar
system, the ancient planetary gods, and the energies and motivations
s ymbolised by their astrological equivalents; and then through
the signs of the zodiac, their elements and qualities, and the
ways in which different planets express through them. Alchemical
symbolism is included as a parallel map of the individual journey.
The book is well-illustrated, and is worthwhile reading for both
the beginner as well as the more advanced astrological student.

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